Welcome to part 2 of our 5-day trip in beautiful Puerto Vallarta. This is our first time visiting Mexico. We tried to capture our journey and share prices, reviews, and experiences of visiting Mexico from Canada. Stay tuned for the next videos and check out part 1 here - • Puerto Vallarta, Mexic...
Our main attraction for Day 2 was visiting the Vallarta Botanical Garden. We both love plants and birds and this is a highly-rated attraction in top things to do in Puerto Vallarta list. As said in the earlier video, our goal in this trip is to solely use Public Transport in Puerto Vallarta for getting around. So we took a bus from Zona Romantica to the Vallarta Botanical Gardens.
Catch the bus to “El Tuito” at the corner of Carranza and Aguacate streets in the Romantic Zone. This bus leaves every half hour or so. This bus will also return you to Puerto Vallarta. Bus fare is 50 pesos per person each way. Takes you about 45 minutes to get you to the garden.
Vallarta Botanical Garden is an amazing place if you are looking for ideas for a Puerto Vallarta day trip - you can hike through the trails, take a swim in the Los Horcones river, and watch so many tropical plants - orchids, cocoa, vanilla, blue agave. If you like birdwatching, this is a great spot. It honestly felt like a place which can cater to all - solo travellers, couples, or groups that are on a family vacation.
The ticket to the garden costs you 300 pesos per person. There is a gift shop and restaurant in the garden. While the food in the restaurant is a tad bit expensive, the view from the dining area is just amazing. You can watch the forest and mountains while taking a sip of your Margarita. On our way back to the Puerto Vallarta romantic zone, we just crossed the road from the botanical gardens entrance and waited for 10 minutes to catch the bus.
Back in the city, we decided to walk around the romantic zone and check out one of the most popular or iconic beaches in Puerto Vallarta - Playa Los Muertos or Los Muerto Beach. If you search for the best beaches in Puerto Vallarta, this one is bound to come up on the list. Honestly, we would not necessarily tag it as the best beach since it is not as clean or scenic as the other beaches we visited. However, we gotta say this is a very happening and chill spot to spend the evening. Especially, you can watch the sunset from the Pier or even at night you could just sit on the pier and listen to the waves.
You can also catch a water taxi or panga to the nicer beaches in the south such as Colomitos, Las Animas, Quimixto, Majahuitas, and Yelapa from the Los Muertos pier. We also saw people take a fishing trip from here.
We finished off the day by having dinner at one of the best restaurants in Puerto Vallarta - Pancho's Takos. If you are out on a Puerto Vallarta food tour or looking up the best tacos in Puerto Vallarta, you cannot miss this place. As we were walking towards the restaurant, there were at least 30 people in the queue and that has always been the case every day we have crossed this restaurant. They are famous for their al pastor, beef tacos and spare ribs with some mean margaritas. We loved it so much that we came back another night to have our dinner here.
We tried to document all costs in a spreadsheet, so if anyone is planning to make a visit to Puerto Vallarta - we could share how much it costs for food, accommodation, and travel.
Generally, most people search for all-inclusive resorts in Puerto Vallarta but we wanted to stay in a hotel as we felt we would be roaming around the city more and eating street foods than staying all day in the resort. We were also looking at the best beaches in Puerto Vallarta and they were quite dispersed so it made sense for us to stay in a happening area with good public transport and walking friendly zone - we chose Centro, which is also super close to Zona Romantica or the romantic zone. The ocean was right across the hotel we chose so it was a big plus.
We felt really safe in Puerto Vallarta as we wandered around the streets at night and the locals were super friendly and helpful. It is definitely a great vacation place as you have pretty much everything for all demographics - families, couples, and solo travellers.
Living in Puerto Vallarta seems like a great option as we met a lot of seniors, and expats who have moved to Puerto Vallarta from the US and Canada. Well, beautiful weather, friendly locals, fresh food, amazing nature - kind of making us contemplate a move to Puerto Vallarta.
We will upload 3 more videos to capture our activities each day in Puerto Vallarta. Please let us know if you have any queries regarding travel to Puerto Vallarta, we will be happy to help!
Chapters:
Intro 00:00
Vallarta Botanical Gardens 00:46
Lunch with a View 04:25
Back to Puerto Vallarta 08:04
Los Muertos Beach 10:12
Pancho's Takos 11:34
#puertovallarta #mexico #mexicanfood #mexicotravel #couplevlog #nuevovallarta #vallartabotanicalgardens #tacos